(Brussels, April 18, 2023) – The European Jewish Congress has called on European states to immediately impose sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran after its leader Ebrahim Raisi threatened to flatten Tel Aviv and Haifa.
The comments from the Iranian leader came as Jews around the world marked Yom HaShoah, commemorating the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis during the Holocaust.
“Threats to wipe out millions of Jews in Israel must automatically disqualify nation states from any form of diplomatic welcome or trade relations in the civilised world,” EJC President Dr. Ariel Muzicant said.
“To make such vile threats as Jews gather to mark Yom HaShoah shows the callous contempt the Iranian regime has for any forms of diplomatic norms. 80 years after the last attempt to wipe out Jews from the world, it is time for European countries to respond in an appropriate manner to Iran by implementing serious diplomatic and economic sanctions against this terror regime,” he added.
The EJC also called on the European Union to place Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on to its official list of terror organisations.
“The IRGC involves itself on a daily basis in terror activities both on its own and in support of many terror groups across the Middle East and elsewhere, including Hamas and Hezbollah,” he said.
Speaking at a ceremony to mark Iran’s Army Day, Raisi said that any action against Iran would lead to a harsh answer from its armed forces, “which will accompany the destruction of Haifa and Tel Aviv”, two of Israel’s largest population centres.
“The words, “Never Again” are not just some slogan we whisper every Holocaust Memorial Day,” Muzicant said. “They have meaning. The world must never stand by again when a state commits itself to wiping out Jews, builds up the resources to make that a potential reality and then directly threatens to carry it out. The world must react this time before Jews are mass murdered, not merely hold ceremonies in their memory.”
